The 43-year-old said she hasn't been as slim since before the birth of her youngest child

Staying trim could hardly have been a problem for Susanna Reid, a busy working mother who also finds the time to compete in marathons.

But the addition of Strictly Come Dancing to her hectic schedule has left her at her fittest for nearly a decade – and she says she’s lost a stone in weight to boot.

The BBC news presenter who is performing in the Strictly live tour which opens tonight, said she hasn’t been so slim since before she had her youngest son eight years ago, thanks to the gruelling training sessions and energetic routines with dance partner Kevin Clifton.

Miss Reid, 43, said: ‘It’s extraordinary how it affects your body, because you are training for such intense, long periods each day.

‘You are never going to be able to do that again, unless you become a
professional dancer, but it is just amazing how fit it makes you.

‘I would say that all in all, I lost about a stone in weight.

'It means that for Kevin, at the beginning of the series we weren’t doing much lifting. Suddenly there appeared to be all these lifts and no one knew why. It was because I was a stone lighter.’

‘I’m sure if I had thought about it, I could have adapted my diet too, but in the end I just ate what I could, when I could.’

Since she started training for the show in September, she has revealed that her arms have become stronger and more toned, as have her thighs, while her stomach is much flatter.

She said recently: ‘Parts of me that were fleshy seem to be disappearing. Other parts remain fleshy, and it’s a shame I don’t have choice which bits go and which bits stay.’

The newsreader who abstains from eating meat but includes fish in her diet, began training for the dance contest in September last year.

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She made it through to the final of the show alongside model Abbey Clancy, singer Sophie Ellis-Bextor and actress Natalie Gumede last month.

As the show progressed Miss Reid and her dance partner Kevin Clifton began to incorporate more lifts into their routines as a result of her losing weight

The mother-of-three said the support of her husband and family allowed her to devote more time to dance rehearsals

She was forced to undergo daily
rehearsal sessions while commuting between the BBC’s Salford studio,
where she presents BBC Breakfast, and London where she lives with her
long-term partner Dominic Cotton and their three children, who are aged
eight, nine and 11.

During the show, Miss Reid continued to present BBC Breakfast during the week, returning to London each morning after the show to see her children.

She would then travel back to Manchester every evening in time to present the following day’s show. In between she also found time to rehearse, labelling Thursdays ‘smash it Thursday’ when she underwent the longest and hardest sessions ahead of Saturday night’s Strictly performances.

Speaking of how she juggled such a hectic work schedule with family life, she said: ‘I am hugely lucky and blessed that I have a partner who is incredibly supportive.

'He himself has a very demanding job, but a very supportive employer and he was able to step in.‘He has always been brilliant and we’ve shared the parenting, but he just took over.

The 43-year-old continued to present BBC Breakfast throughout the show, travelling between Manchester and London to allow herself time with her children

Reid will appear alongside Natalie Gumede and Abbey Clancey in the Strictly Come Dancing tour which begins on Friday evening

'The family have been brilliant, the grandparents helped out and we’ve relied a lot on friends to arrange play dates for the children.

'I do what any working mum does and I just get on with it.’

Miss Reid is now taking part in the Strictly Come Dancing Live Tour, which begins in Birmingham this evening.